I was visiting a writing group. Writers crave the company of their own. To properly understand that, you need to understand a little about the anatomy of a writer. And before you go off singing that song about knee bones connected to eyeballs or whatever, I’m talking mental anatomy.

You’ve heard of paranoia? Insecurity? Self-doubt? Fear and loathing and little lambs eat ivy? Writers invented all that crap. Then the good looking ones of us mated and put all that out into the world.

You’re welcome.

Anyway. I was in this group, and one of the regulars, from long, long before they ever met me, submitted the latest draft of the first chapter of his book. It was, literally, his 270th revision. No joke. That’s one revision every day for a year if he took off weekends and holidays. And the chapter was only six pages long.

I didn’t know whether to be amazed or impressed. On the one hand, there’s almost nothing I’d want to do 270 times—let alone something as soul-ripping as revisions. So, like, bravo dude.

But on the other hand, isn’t there a point where you look at it and say, “Maybe I should just move on.” Bob Dylan once asked, “How many roads must a man walk down …?” If I were Bob Dylan, I’d have enough money that I could pay somebody else to write this blog. Also, I’d have said, “How many manuscript revisions does one book need?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked before, and, since I’m about to embark on my own road of revisions—see what I did there?—it’s a question that I’ve been thinking about. That and why is somebody always in the bathroom when I need to use it?

Unfortunately, unlike the bathroom question, how many revisions has no good answer. One is too few, and 100 is probably too many—better to just start over. The best answer I can come up with is, it depends.

Depends on the writer. His or her mood at the time—never revise when you’re feeling down because you’ll think everything stinks. The book. Even where the next draft is going. Sometimes if a revision could go either way, I won’t make it if it’s going to a peer reader—and I’ll look to see if they comment on it as well as what they say.

Leonardo de Vinci said that art is never finished, only abandoned. I get that. Writers always want to make things better. Every time I read something I’ve written, I tweak it, tighten it, or just plain rewrite it. So at some point, I have to walk away. I once was printing out a hard copy for a reader while making edits on the computer.

Have I mentioned writers can be obsessive?

Maybe 270 revisions isn’t as weird as I first thought. See? It only took one blog for me to revise my opinion. The dude at the writing group is now my personal competition. I’m revising my next book 271 times.

Wow. I gotta switch to decaf.